With layers of crunchy meringue, silky-smooth whipped cream and juicy fresh strawberries, Eton Mess is the most wonderful, simple dessert that comes together in minutes.
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There’s a whole back story on Eton Mess, about Queen Victoria, Eton College and so on, but honestly, I don’t really care. All I know is that this classic British dessert started a long time ago and it’s a fool-proof delicious dessert! And while mine is still an easy Eton Mess recipe, I’ve fancied it up a little with my White Chocolate Chantilly Cream (although you can still make it with the traditional whipped cream)
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- It comes together in minutes!
- The combination of textures and flavours makes for the most magnificent and delicious dessert
- You can make it as easy as you want, using store-bought meringues or use my amazing homemade Meringue Cookies
- It’s a fabulous dessert, where the 3 components can be made or bought ahead, then arranged at the last minute
- Serving it in individual glasses will wow your dinner guests and make you look super fancy
Ingredients
- Meringues: you can make your own, using my recipe here, or opt for the grocery store meringues
- Chantilly Cream: I use my White Chocolate Chantilly Cream, but my traditional Chantilly Cream recipe is what would normally go into this traditional English dessert
- Macerated Strawberries: these are just ripe strawberries that have soaked in a little sugar, to bring out their natural juices. I use it in so many desserts and you can find it here
Substitutions and Additions
- Strawberries: while strawberries are the traditional way to make an Eton Mess, you can absolutely use other fresh berries instead
- Chantilly Cream: if you really want to cut corners, try a double cream (extra thick) and just stir some vanilla extract through it
- Meringues: use either store-bought meringue cookies, or use my (very easy!) Italian Meringues. Or for a chocolate twist, try making your Eton Mess using my Chocolate Meringues
- Make a more adult version by adding a little Cointreau or Grand Marnier to your macerated strawberries
Step by Step Instructions
- Prepare you macerated strawberries by washing, trimming and hulling them, then slice them into pieces and place in a bowl. Sprinkle over a tablespoon of sugar, then stir and refrigerate for 30 minutes
- Make your Meringues, or just buy them
- Whip your heavy cream with some vanilla extract and caster sugar
Assembly: each layer will repeat again
- Roughly crush the meringues and place half of the meringue pieces into four individual glasses
- Using a piping bag, pipe the Chantilly cream over the meringues (you can also just spoon it on)
- Spoon the macerated strawberries over the Chantilly cream
- Repeat one more time, finishing with the strawberry mixture
Tips and Tricks
- Have all of the 3 components ready ahead of time -the meringues can be made a week before, the whipped cream can be prepared earlier that day and the berries can also be macerated earlier that day
- Assemble the Eton Mess just before serving, to retain the crunchy texture of the meringues (but they’ll still be delicious a few hours later)
Serving Suggestions
- Christmas Dessert: this makes a wonderful, fuss-free dessert for Christmas, that looks gorgeous and tastes delicious
- Valentine’s Day Dessert: simply halve the recipe and you have a gorgeous sweet dessert to fall in love to
- Summer Dessert: this is a great dessert in summer, at the height of strawberry season, when the berries are big and juicy!
- Try using leftover Pavlova in your Eton Mess -it will be more marshmallowy and seriously delicious
Storage
- Refrigerate: once your Eton Mess has been assembled, it will be best eaten that day
If you try this recipe, I’d love it if you could take a minute to leave a rating or review -it helps to get my recipes seen and for me to keep sharing them with you.
Eton Mess
A simple, summery dessert full of lovely sweet textures and flavours. This elevated Eton Mess is sure to wow all of your dinner guests!
Ingredients
Meringues (or use store-bought meringues)
- 1 egg white room temperature
- 1 pinch cream of tartar
- 75 g caster sugar
Macerated Strawberries
- 250 g fresh strawberries
- 1-2 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon Cointreau or Grand Marnier optional
White Chocolate Chantilly Cream
- 300 ml Heavy Cream
- 18 g Glucose see notes
- 125 g White chocolate
Instructions
Meringues (if making your own)
- Pre heat your oven to 100℃ (212℉) -use convention setting, not fan-forced (see notes)
- Line a baking sheet with silicone baking mats or baking paper (I use 2 large baking sheets)
- In the mixer bowl of a stand mixer, place the egg white and cream of tartar
- Using a hand mixer on low to medium speed, whisk the egg whites until foamy and beginning to form soft peaks (I use the hand mixer first, as it's a small amount of egg white and it's harder to whisk with the stand mixer at the start)
- Place your mixing bowl onto your stand mixer and using a whisk attachment, whisk on low to medium, while slowly adding the caster sugar to the whipped whites, 1 tablespoon at a time (leave 30 seconds between each spoonful)
- Once all of the sugar has been added, stop the mixer and scrape the side of the bowl with a silicone spatula
- Now mix the meringue on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until it forms stiff peaks and is nice and glossy. Check that there are no large granules left, by rubbing a little of the meringue between your thumb and finger. You want a glossy, marshmallowy meringue here
- Transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, then pipe out your meringue cookies. Because you're going to crush these, they don't need to be fancy. Pipe about 8 meringue cookies
- Bake in the oven for 2.5 hours (for crispy, hard meringues) or 1.5 hours for a softer centre, then turn off the oven and leave the meringues to cool, with the oven door slightly ajar
Macerated Strawberries
- Wash, trim and hull your strawberries, then slice them into small pieces or slices and add to a small bowl
- Sprinkle over a tablespoon of sugar(to taste) and stir to combine (you can also add a teaspoon of Cointreau or Grand Marnier, for a boozy version)
- Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to macerate and release all of the lovely juices
White Chocolate Chantilly Cream
- add the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips to a medium sized heat proof bowl and set aside
- add the glucose syrup and half of the cold cream to a small saucepan and whisk over medium heat until it starts to bubble at the sides
- pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for about 30 secondsuse a balloon whisk or a hand blender to combine the 2 ingredients, then whisk in the remaining cream (you just need to combine it at this stage)
- cover with plastic wrap, making sure it is touching the surface of the mixture, then place in the fridge to cool for at least 4 hours (or overnight). This is now basically a white chocolate ganache.
- remove the chocolate ganache mixture from the fridge and, using a handheld electric whisk, whisk until it forms soft peaks. If you want the mixture to be firmer, you can whisk until it forms stiff peaks, but be careful not to over whisk it -it can become grainy very quickly!
Assembly
- Take 4 glasses and roughly crush half of the meringues into them
- Pipe or scoop in a layer of the Chantilly cream, using half of the cream
- Spoon over half of the strawberries
- Repeat this process with the remaining half of each component and sprinkle the tops with a little of the meringue
- The Eton Mess can be stored in the fridge that day, but for a crunchy texture, it's best to assemble it close to serving
Notes
Home Made Meringues (lots of notes, but they're very simple!)
- Make sure you are whisking your egg whites in a clean bowl. Any trace of oil will prevent the whites from whipping, so give the bowl a quick wipe out before you start.
- Don’t over whip your egg whites, as it will dry them out. You just want soft peaks before adding the sugar
- Adding the caster sugar one spoonful at a time means your sugar dissolves into the egg whites, creating a gorgeous glossy meringue
- Mix only on low-medium and medium speed. You don’t want too many air bubbles whipped into the meringue, or it can collapse
- Avoid opening the oven door while the meringue is cooking, as it can lead to cracks in the meringue
- Baking without the fan will give you lovely white meringues
- You can adjust the bake time according to the size of your meringues. If you want smaller meringues, they will crisp up much faster
- or try my Chantilly Cream for a much faster option
- Glucose syrup can be substituted with corn syrup or honey (honey will slightly alter the flavour)
- When heating the cream, keep whisking and don't let it come to a boil, otherwise it can scorch on the sides of the saucepan. The best way to avoid this is to use your whisk or rubber spatula to scrape alongside the saucepan.
- Covering the ganache with plastic wrap touching the surface means it won't form a skin and will give you a smooth Chantilly Cream
- Soft peaks are perfect for this recipe. You can whip it a little bit longer if you like, but be careful not to over whip it and make it grainy!
- An electric hand mixer with a whisk attachment is preferable to a stick blender, as the stick blender can quickly over whip the cream
- This is a soft Chantilly Cream -if you want it slightly thicker, try using a little less cream to even up the ratio of chocolate and cream.
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